OF our numerous ancient
customs now rapidly falling into disuse with the March of the Centuries,
none is more regretted by us than the cessation of the tolling of the
Curfew. Musical Curfew ! cradled amid the din of the Norman camp—dying
out in our more peaceful Victorian era; in charming unison with the
sweet calm of a summer’s evenings are thy soft notes floating on the
breeze. And yet of what a memorable and stormy epoch in our history do
they not remind us? They tell of the time when our land was invaded by
an invincible host who changed for us “our manners, our laws, our
language, and our Kings ”•—of the days when the curfew of less troublous
times was the Couvre-Feu of a Conqueror.

OLD FOOT AND HAND BALL
GAME'S.

On a particular day of
the year set apart for the purpose, it was formerly the custom for the
husbands and bachelors belonging to Coldingham to arrange themselves in
opposing factions on the moor, and engage in a severe contest at the
game of football; the former playing eastwards, and the latter towards
the west. The sea shore formed a boundary for the married men ; that of
the un-married men was more difficult to get at, being a hole in the
earth about a mile and a half west from the town. Latterly, the
bachelors aimed at the barn-door of a farm steading which had been
erected on the same site of ground. Under these favouring circumstances
it is almost needless to say that the Benedicts were invariably
victorious. Old and young turned out to view this favourite and exciting
pastime, and the entire day was generally devoted to some kind of rural
merry-making.

Foot and hand ball have
long been favourite games with the people of Scotland. In olden times
nearly every district had its annual ba-playin. The more expert at the
pastime in one parish used to challenge those of another, and a sharp
engagement was the result. The following were the rules observed on
those occasions : It was not allowable to touch the ball with the hand
after it had been cast upon the ground. An opponent might be tripped
when near the ball, and more especially w hen about to hit it with his
foot, but a competitor could not be laid hold of, or otherwise
interfered with when at a distance from the ball, the party who out of
three rounds hailed the ball twice was proclaimed victor. English forays
were frequently conducted under the guise of football and handball
matches. In the year 1000, Sir John Carmichael, Warden of the Middle
Marches, was killed by a party of Armstrongs on their return from a game
at football. Handball was more popular in the Southern districts, the
most celebrated match of this last mentioned game which took place in
modern times was played at Carterhaugh in the year 1813, the promoter of
the match being the Earl of Home.

SPORTS IN FIFESHIRE.

On the summit of Benarty,
which rises above Loch Orr, in the parish of Lochtie, in Fifeshire,
there were formerly held games in which the Fifeshire herdsmen and those
of the neighbouring counties were the performers. These came to the
place of meeting accompanied by their wives, daughters, and sweethearts;
and there being no lack of provisions, the fete was kept up for a few
days, the revellers bivouacking during the night. Their chief games were
the golf, the football, and the Wads (a pledge or hostage), what with
howling, singing, and drinking, after the manner of the modern Irish,
they contrived to spend a very happy time.

This rural custom is now
abandoned, the number of herdsmen being much diminished, and the
position not being of such convenience owing to the increased number of
fences.

OLD FUNERAL CUSTOMS AT
AVONDALE.

Much time was lost and no
small expense incurred by the way in which funerals were conducted in
the parish of Avondale and elsewhere, receiving their “service” in the
barn or place of meeting. Though “warned” to attend at twelve o’clock,
the guests seldom made their appearance till much later, and did not
leave the place with the body before two o’clock. In general, three
services were given; two glasses of wine and one of whisky or rum.
Formerly, vast numbers of the friends and neighbours assembled to see
the “chesting” or body put into the coffin. After which they generally
drank tea, perhaps in the same room with the coffin.

In former times the
ceremonies attendant on funerals were of a most singular nature. These
varied according to the district. At the ancient Lyke-wake much unseemly
mirth and revelling wore formerly indulged in. In some of the more
distant parishes the proceedings ended in a festival at the chesting of
the corpse. Not unfrequently dancing as well as music followed part of
these entertainments at Highland funerals, and when such a pastime was
indulged in, to the relatives of the deceased was assigned the honour of
opening the ball. While engaged in the duty of watching the dead prior
to the funeral, the more sedate Lowlander generally confined himself to
a silent process of drinking. The convivialities attendant on the death
of a Highland chieftain in some instances proved nearly ruinous to his
descendants. A succession of “Services”, such as these in vogue in
Avondale and Carluke, were common amongst the poorer classes in later
times, and until very recently it was customary for crowds of beggars to
come to the house from which a funeral had just departed, and receive
the pence put aside for that benevolent purpose.

BURGESS CUSTOM AT SELKIRK.

A great trade in
shoemaking was once carried on by the inhabitants of Selkirk, of which
the only existing memorials are the old familiar song of the “Souters of
Selkirk,”—

“Up wi’ the Souters o’
Selkirk
And down wi’ the Earl of Home;
And up wi’ a' the braws lads
That sew the single-soled shoon,

“Up wi’ the Souters o’
Selkirk,
For they are baith trusty an’ leal;
An’ down wi’ the men o' the Merse,
An’ the Earl may gang to the deil.”

and the singular customs
observed at the conferring the freedom of the burgh. Four or five
bristles, such as are used by shoemakers, are attached to the seal of
the burgess ticket. These the new made burgess must dip in his wine and
pass through his mouth in token of respect for the Souters of Selkirk.
The only instance of any remission of this disagreeable ritual was in
favour of Prince Leopold (of course not the late Prince of that name),
who was made a burgess in 1819. It is said, there is every reason to
believe that the words of the old song allude to the battle of Flodden,
and the different behaviour of the Souters, who distinguished themselves
by their valour at Flodden, and of whom few survived to return from the
fatal field, and the behaviour of Lord Home upon that occasion. At
election times, when the Souters begin to get merry, they always call
for music, and for that song in particular. A standard, the appearance
of which bespeaks its antiquity, is still carried annually on the day of
riding the Marches by the corporation of weavers, by a member of which
it was taken from the English on the field of Flodden.

THE GRACE CUP.

It would appear from
ancient historical records that the old county town of Forfar owed much
to the munificence of Margaret Atheling, Queen of Malcolm Canmore, w
hose piety and good works won for her the proud designation of St.
Margaret of Scotland. And tradition, it is said, celebrates her
attention to the instruction of the young women of Forfar. In order to
evince their gratitude to their beloved Queen for the many benefits
conferred upon the town, the inhabitants made a holiday of the 10th of
June, in memory of her, and instituted an annual ball in her honour. St.
Margaret, did much to overcome the natural roughness of the Scottish
nobles, as well as their carelessness in the matter of religious
observances; and it was the law of her table that none should drink
after dinner who did not wait the giving of thanks. Hence the origin of
the phrase, known throughout Scotland of the Grace Cup.

OLD CUSTOM AT KIRKMICHAEL.

“Bear ye one another’s
burdens” seems to have been one of the Bible precepts that were formerly
reduced to practice by the inhabitants of Kirkmichael. It is recorded of
the old parishioners that when any of the poorer classes were reduced by
sickness, losses or any other kind of misfortune, a friend was sent to
as many of their neighbours as they thought requisite, to invite them to
what they called a drinking. This drinking consisted of a little beer,
with a piece of bread and cheese, and sometimes a small glass of brandy
or whisky, previously provided by the needy persons or their friends.
The guests assembled at the time appointed, and after the people of the
house had received from each a shilling, and perhaps more, the company
amused themselves for about a couple of hour with music and dancing, and
then went home. Such as could not attend themselves usually sent their
charitable contributions by any neighbour who chose to go. These
meetings sometimes produced from five to seven pounds for the distressed
person or family.

THE BURRY MAN.

A singular custom
observed even at the present day amongst the youth of Queensferry has
been supposed to commemorate there the passage of Malcolm Canmore and
Queen Margaret to and from Edinburgh to Dunfermline, and to indicate the
origin of the place. The observance referred to is the annual procession
of the “Burry Man,” got up on the day preceding the annual fair, amongst
the boys of Queensferry, and which was thus described in the Journals of
the day— The annual saturnalia of the ancient port of passage over the
Firth of St. Margaret the Queen, came off on Friday 9th August, having
been preceded on Thursday 8th, according to ancient customs by the
singular perambulation of the Burry Man, i.e., a man or lad clad loosely
in flannels stuck over with the well-known adhesive bur of the Arctimus
Bardana (the bur thistle) of Bums, though in reality not a thistle but a
burdock as botanists can aver.

The burrs are found in
considerable profusion at Blackness Point in the immediate vicinity of
Hopeton House. A few plants also grow in the neighbourhood of New Halls
Point, and beyond the rocks of the opposite shore of North Queensferry
where we have found it on the Links near Inverkeithing; and from all
these and even more remote places are they gathered if necessary, for
this occasion. So essential are they deemed to the maintenance of the
curious ceremony, the origin and object of which are lost in antiquity,
and long ago foiled the antiquarian research of Sir Walter Scott.
Tradition at present connects the custom with the erection of
Queensferry into a royal burgh, which did not take place till the time
of Charles I., and even points to the previous constitution as a burgh
of regality, alleged to have been originated under Malcolm Caen-Mohr, in
which case the representation of the burgh by the Burry Man would amount
to a whimsical, practical pun. The custom in question can be traced back
to the period of the last battle of Falkiik; for an old woman of 80,
whose dead mother was aged 13 at the date of the battle (1746) stated
that the observance haw been unaltered from then till now.

On the day preceding the
fair, the Burry Man, who requires to be either a stout man or robust
lad, is encased in flannels, face, arms, and legs all being covered ho
as to resemble as closely as possible a man in chain armour from the
close adhesion of the burrs. The hands as well as the tops of two staves
grasped with extended arms, are beautifully adorned with flowers. The
victim thus accoutred is led from door to door by two attendants who
likewise assist in upholding his arms by grasping the staves. At every
door in succession a shout is raised and the inhabitants come forth
bestowing their kindly greetings and donations of money on the Burry
Man, who in this way generally collects, we believe, considerable sums
which are equally divided and spent at the fair by the youths associated
in the exploit.

Sometimes there are two
persons thus selected and led in procession from door to door, the one
being styled the King and the other the Queen, in allusion to the
passage of the royal couple through the burgh. An ingenious author
adapting his description, to the royal visit of 1822, has even gone the
length of adducing the particulars of the burgh arms as confirmatory of
the origin of the observance under Malcolm III. The town’s arms consist,
1st, of a ship ; 2nd, of a fine figure of a youthful female in the act
of landing ; 3rd, a cross to represent Margaret’s attachment to the
Christian faith, and four or five sea fowls said to have appeared near
the spot where the Queen landed. It is, or used to be, a popular belief
that the giving up of this quaint custom would be productive of
misfortune to the town.

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